A7 and the 21mm Summilux: Raleigh Moral March

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YYV_146

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These are from the protest event last Saturday in Raleigh, NC. I took them with the intention of making color prints, but after reviewing them I thought almost all were too colorful and cheerful and did a B&W conversion on most of the images.

Photos were taken with the A7 and 21mm Summilux. I mostly zone focus or use peaking guidelines with the JPEG mode set to B&W. Conversions done in Silver EFEX pro. I processed for color first, though.

There is a bit of corner softness at f1.4, which fully disappears by f2.8. Given the quite significant falloff of this lens on FF and the limited DOF wide open, I haven't found it to be much of a problem.


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I think both are wide open at iso 100.
 
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“UNC athletes deserve a real education” I work at Duke, and am personally proud of the high academic requirements we have on athletes. Our program is however quite expensive. It is rather sad to see public institutions go this way because of a lack of funding in the past few years...
 
Sorry, what were they marching about? Was there a unifying theme? We need more (verbal) background or more informative pictures.

Cheers,

R.
 
Nice pictures & PP. I guess I would have shot at higher ISO for more depth of field in a journalistic situation like this.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Sorry, what were they marching about? Was there a unifying theme? We need more (verbal) background or more informative pictures.

Cheers,

R.
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There is one, but I found that most people were carrying signs about their own agenda...

I think it is related to the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down anti-voting restriction laws. Naturally the North Carolina government decided to install voter registration programs. But I think this is a sort of broad demonstration against the GOP in general, i.e. women's rights, gay rights, public education and health care.

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As you can see, a lot of people were there to support the expansion of Medicaid. From an economist's standpoint quite unaffordable, but a very popular opinion nonetheless.
 
YYV_146 said:
There is one, but I found that most people were carrying signs about their own agenda...

I think it is related to the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down anti-voting restriction laws. Naturally the North Carolina government decided to install voter registration programs. But I think this is a sort of broad demonstration against the GOP in general, i.e. women's rights, gay rights, public education and health care.
Click to expand...
Ah, thanks. That is in fact a story in itself (and a very interesting one). But either we needed to be told, in pretty much the words you used, or you need (if you have one) a picture to sum up those words. You need MORE pictures, and MORE captions. I would not say this if I thought the pictures themselves were weak. If I thought they were weak, I'd simply say you'd failed.

I would however suggest that conversions are almost always "second best". PLAN to shoot in B+W from the start. See for example Mathilda Temperley's pics of the Somerset floods in http://www.theguardian.com/environm...somerset-floods-living-underwater-in-pictures which are stunning.

Cheers,

R.
 
Vics said:
Nice pictures & PP. I guess I would have shot at higher ISO for more depth of field in a journalistic situation like this.
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Thank you, Vic. One of the reasons I was shooting wide open is that at higher iso levels the EVF slows down perceptibly. The grain in the LED can also mask out a bit of the peaking color. Focus and stopping down isn't always possible. The RF penalizes you for shooting wide open, but the EVF penalizes you for doing the opposite :D

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Roger Hicks said:
Ah, thanks. That is in fact a story in itself (and a very interesting one). But either we needed to be told, in pretty much the words you used, or you need (if you have one) a picture to sum up those words. You need MORE pictures, and MORE captions. I would not say this if I thought the pictures themselves were weak. If I thought they were weak, I'd simply say you'd failed.

I would however suggest that conversions are almost always "second best". PLAN to shoot in B+W from the start. See for example Mathilda Temperley's pics in http://www.theguardian.com/environm...somerset-floods-living-underwater-in-pictures which are stunning.

Cheers,

R.
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Thanks for the advice. I think I still like a few of the color pictures more than the B&W, but only maybe one or two out of every ten. The colorfulness (rainbow flags, redshirts) gave the event a carnival-like feel. I didn't want viewers to think that the demonstrators were having a good time and enjoying themselves.

If I ever make a print set out of there, there will certainly be detailed captions. I have a few stories from the people inside these pictures, but they are still on my phone's notepad. :D
 
Looks like you made the right choice with the B/W conversion. Clashing colors on clothes and the background would just be distracting. That said, I'd like to see the color version of the first photo, just out of curiousity. Would that be possible?
 
funkydog said:
Looks like you made the right choice with the B/W conversion. Clashing colors on clothes and the background would just be distracting. That said, I'd like to see the color version of the first photo, just out of curiousity. Would that be possible?
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Sure. It's not the worst offender, though :D I'd probably like it with a bit of further processing...

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Love the BW, the last colour illustrates, no because of the colour, the weakness Roger refers to. Without catching the lettering, not easy I know but that's where the skill comes in, the he shot conveys nothing about the "news" the participants could be trudging home after a home team loss.

Can I recommend this blog? This guy has been press for years, now independent, but if you look at his shots and read his commentaries on how and why he makes his choices I'm sure you will pick up some working "tips". Lots of technical detail on lens choices, angles and how to photograph demos, he does not stage shots.

http://re-photo.co.uk/
 
ChrisLivsey said:
Love the BW, the last colour illustrates, no because of the colour, the weakness Roger refers to. Without catching the lettering, not easy I know but that's where the skill comes in, the he shot conveys nothing about the "news" the participants could be trudging home after a home team loss.

Can I recommend this blog? This guy has been press for years, now independent, but if you look at his shots and read his commentaries on how and why he makes his choices I'm sure you will pick up some working "tips". Lots of technical detail on lens choices, angles and how to photograph demos, he does not stage shots.

http://re-photo.co.uk/
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I agree. The blog was a great read. Not so sure about his recent photos, though, since the environment (the masks in particular) conveys the topic so easily and naturally.

I was at a few political demonstrations in Hong Kong, and it was much easier to create photos that looked like protests, if only because people look angry and purpose-driven :D Maybe in the US folks have been softened by centuries of constitutional rights...
 
Nice shots. But I'm glad I wasn't there to see the complaintocracy (government by whoever complains the loudest). My family has 200 years in NC, it's certainly changing.
 
If you want to know what the rally (rallies) are about, Google "Moral Monday".
Any more pics? My wife was there. I'd be curious if you happened to get a candid shot of her.
 
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